1. أخذتْ سفاقسُ منك عهدَ أمانِ

    وَرَدَدتَ أهليها إلى الأوطانِ

    Sfax received from you a pledge of safety,

    and you returned its people to their homelands.

  2. أطلقتَ بالكرم الصريح سراحَهُمْ

    فرعوا بقاعَ العزّ بعد هوانِ

    With unalloyed generosity, you granted their release,

    so they grazed in honor's meadows after humiliation.

  3. وعطفتَ عطفةَ قادمٍ أسيافُهُ

    غُمِدَتْ على الجانين في الغفرانِ

    You showed the tenderness of one arriving whose swords

    were sheathed against offenders in forgiveness.

  4. كم من مُسيءٍ تحتَ حكمك منهمُ

    قَلّدْتَهُ مِنَناً من الإحسانِ

    How many a wrongdoer among them, beneath your rule,

    you adorned with favors of kindness!

  5. ومروَّعٍ وقع الردى في رُوعِهِ

    أطفأت جَمْرَةَ جَوْفهِ بأمان

    And many a frightened man into whose thoughts death had entered—

    you quenched the ember in his breast with safety.

  6. كان الزّمانُ عدوّهم فثنيْتَهُ

    وهو الصّديقُ لهم بلا عُدوانِ

    Time was their enemy, but you turned it,

    and now it is their friend, without hostility.

  7. أمسى وأصبح طيبُ ذكركَ فيهمُ

    بأريجِهِ يَتَأرّج الملوانِ

    Evening and morning, your sweet remembrance among them

    perfumes both night and day with its fragrance.

  8. ولقد يكون من الضلوع حديثُهُم

    في مُعْضِلاتِ تَوَقّعِ الحدثانِ

    Their talk had once come from deep within their breasts,

    in the anguish of anticipating Time's calamities.

  9. يا يَوْمَ رَدّهِمُ إلى أوطانِهِمْ

    لرددتَ أرواحاً إلى أبدانِ

    O day of their return to their homelands,

    you truly restored souls to bodies!

  10. نزَلتْ بك الأفراحُ في عَرَصَاتهمْ

    وبها يكونُ تَرَحّلُ الأحزانِ

    Through you, joys alighted in their courtyards,

    and there sorrows took their leave.

  11. فِلَذُ القلوب إلى القلوب تَراجعتْ

    في مُلْتَقَى الآباءِ بالولدانِ

    Pieces of hearts returned to hearts

    when fathers met their children.

  12. والأمّهاتُ على البناتِ عَواطِفٌ

    والمشفقاتُ على اللّداتِ حوانِ

    Mothers bent affectionately over daughters,

    and tender-hearted women lovingly embraced their peers.

  13. سُرَّ القرابةُ بالقرابةِ منهمُ

    وتَأنّسَ الجيرانُ بالجيرانِ

    Kin among them rejoiced in kin,

    and neighbors found companionship in neighbors.

  14. وَتَزَاوَرَ الأحبابُ بعد قطيعةٍ

    دخلتْ بذكر الودّ في النّسيانِ

    Loved ones visited one another after an estrangement

    that remembrance of affection consigned to oblivion.

  15. في كلّ بيتٍ نعمةٌ وَمَسَرّةٌ

    شربوا سُلافتها بلا كيزانِ

    In every house were blessing and delight;

    they drank its pure wine without cups.

  16. ودُعاؤهم لك في السماء مُحَلّقٌ

    حتى لضاقَ بعرضه الأفقانِ

    Their prayers for you soar through heaven,

    until both horizons are too narrow for their breadth,

  17. كحجيج مكة في ارْتفاع عجيجهم

    وطوافهمْ بالبيتِ ذي الأركانِ

    like Mecca's pilgrims with their rising cries

    and their circling of the House with its corners.

  18. صَيّرْتَ في الدّنْيا حديثك فيهمُ

    مثلاً يمرّ بأهل كلّ زمانِ

    You have made your story among them, in this world,

    a proverb passed among the people of every age.

  19. فخرٌ يقيمُ إلى القيامة ذكرُهُ

    مثلَ الشنوفِ تُناطُ بالآذانِ

    A glory whose remembrance lasts until the Resurrection,

    like earrings hung upon ears.

  20. لك يا ابن يحيى في علائك مُرْتَقى

    لم تَرْقَهُ من أكبرٍ قدمانِ

    Yours, O son of Yahya, is an ascent in eminence

    that no greater man's two feet have climbed.

  21. إن كنتَ في الأيمان أشرعتَ القنا

    فبها أقمْتَ شرائعَ الإيمانِ

    If you have leveled spears in right hands,

    through them you have established the laws of faith.

  22. أو كان فضْلُك ليس يُجحدَ حقُّه

    فعليه مُتّفِقٌ ذوو الأديانِ

    Or if your excellence cannot be denied its due,

    the followers of all religions agree upon it.

  23. أو كنْتَ مرهوبَ الأناةِ فكامنٌ

    فيها وثوبُ الضيغم الغضبانِ

    Or if your forbearance inspires fear, concealed

    within it is the spring of an enraged lion.

  24. لا يأمنِ الأعداءُ وقعَ صوارمٍ

    نامتْ مناياهُنّ في الأجفانِ

    Let enemies not feel safe from the blows of swords

    whose death-strokes sleep within their sheaths.

  25. فلها انتباهٌ في يديكَ وإنّها

    لقطوف هامات الجُناةِ جَوانِ

    For they awaken in your hands, and indeed they

    gather clusters of offenders' heads.

  26. كم للعدى في الروع من خَرَسٍ إذا

    نطقَ الرّدى لهمُ من الخُرصْانِ

    How often terror strikes your foes dumb, when

    death speaks to them from spearheads!

  27. لله دَرّكَ من هُمامٍ حازمٍ

    يَرْضى ويغضَبُ في رضى الرحمانِ

    God bless you, a high-hearted, resolute man,

    pleased and angered for the All-Merciful's pleasure.

  28. للَّه منك جميلُ صنعٍ سائحٌ

    في الأرضِ منْه حديثُ كل لسانِ

    God be praised for your fair deeds, spreading

    throughout the earth, the talk of every tongue!

  29. سرّحْتَ مالكِ من يمينِ سميحةٍ

    والمال في اليمنى السميحة عانِ

    You released your wealth from a generous right hand,

    though wealth is a captive in the generous right hand.

  30. إنِّي امرؤ أبني القريض ولا أرى

    زَمَناً يحاولُ هدْمَ ما أنا باني

    I am a man who builds verse, and I see no

    age attempting to demolish what I build.

  31. صَنعٌ بتحبيرِ الثناءِ وَحَوْكِهِ

    فكأنّما صنعاءُ تحت لساني

    Skilled in embellishing praise and weaving it,

    I seem to have Sana'a beneath my tongue.

  32. وأفيدُ نوّارَ البديع تضوّعاً

    مُتَنَسمّاً بدقائقِ الأذهانِ

    I endow invention's blossoms with fragrance,

    wafting through the subtleties of minds.

  33. والشعرُ يسري في النفوس ولا كما

    يَسْري معَ الصّهباءِ والألحانِ

    Poetry travels through souls, but not as

    it travels with tawny wine and melodies.

  34. ولقد شأوتُ الريح فيه مُسَابقاً

    من بعد ما أمسكتُ فضْل عِناني

    Indeed, I outran the wind while racing in it,

    after gathering in the slack of my rein.

  35. وطعنتُ في سنّ الكبير وما نبا

    عن طَعنِ شاكلة البديع سناني

    I have advanced into old age, yet my spear has not recoiled

    from piercing the flank of invention.

  36. ولوَ انّني أصْفَيْتُ منه لولّدتْ

    علياك في فكري ضروبَ معاني

    Even if my store of verse ran dry,

    your eminence would beget many kinds of meaning in my mind.

  37. فافخرْ فإنّكَ من مُلوكٍ لم يَزَلْ

    لهمُ قديمُ مَفَاخرِ الأزمانِ

    Boast, then, for you descend from kings who have always

    possessed the ancient glories of the ages.

  38. ولقد عكفتَ على مواصلَةِ النّدى

    فكأنّهُ حُبٌّ بلا سلوانِ

    You have devoted yourself to unceasing generosity,

    as though it were a love that knows no forgetting.

  39. وغمرْتَ بالطَّوْلِ الزّمانَ فقلْ لَنا

    أهُوَ الهواءُ يعمّ كلّ مكانِ

    You have flooded Time with bounty; tell us,

    is it the air, pervading every place?

  40. نُفْني مدائِحَنا عَلَيكَ لأنَّها

    سُقيَتْ ظماءً منك ماءَ بنانِ

    We lavish all our praises upon you, because they

    were watered, thirsty, by the water of your fingertips.

  41. والرّوْضُ إن رَوّى الغمامُ بقاعَهُ

    أثْنى عليه تَنَفّس الريحانِ

    When clouds water a garden's plots,

    the breathing of its basil praises them.

  42. سنحتْ في السرْبِ من حورِ الجنانْ

    ظبيةٌ تبسم عن سِمْطَيْ جُمان

    There appeared amid the herd, from Paradise's houris,

    a gazelle smiling to reveal two strands of pearls.

  43. وكأنّ العَيْنَ منها تجتلي

    بَرَداً للبرق فيه لَمَعَان

    It is as though the eye beholds in her

    hailstones in which lightning gleams.

  44. بنتُ سبعٍ وثمانٍ وَجَدَتْ

    عُمُري ضَرْبَكَ سبعاً في ثمان

    A girl of seven years and eight, she found

    my age was seven multiplied by eight.

  45. في شبابٍ بهجٍ وفّى لها

    وثنى ريعانَهُ عنّي فخان

    Amid radiant youth that kept faith with her,

    but turned its prime away from me, faithless.

  46. يستبي النّاسكَ منها ناظرٌ

    ساحرُ الطرْفِ عليلُ اللّحظان

    A glance of hers captivates the ascetic,

    enchanting in its gaze, languid in its glances.

  47. وأثيثٌ ذو عقاصٍ غَيّمَتْ

    فيه للمندل أنفاسُ دخان

    And luxuriant braided hair, clouded

    with breaths of aloeswood smoke.

  48. يا لها من جنّةٍ رمّانُها

    ما دَرَتْ ما لمسُهُ راحةُ جان

    Ah, what a garden, whose pomegranates

    have never known the touch of a plucker's palm!

  49. يا عليلَ القلب كم ذا تشتهي

    سَوْسَنَ النحرِ وَعُنّابَ البنان

    O heartsick one, how long will you crave

    the lilies of her neck and the jujubes of her fingertips?

  50. وأوانُ الهجرِ لا يُجْنى به

    ثَمَرٌ كان لها الوَصْلُ أوان

    In the season of separation, no one harvests

    fruit whose season had been union.

  51. إذ شبَابي غَضّةٌ أوراقُه

    وحديثي تُحَفٌ بين الحسان

    When my youth had tender leaves,

    and my talk was treasured among beauties,

  52. وقطوفُ اللهوِ من قاطفها

    دانياتٌ ببنيّاتِ الدّنان

    and pleasure's clusters, for their gatherer,

    hung close through the little daughters of wine jars.

  53. كلّ عذراءَ عجوز قد علا

    رأسَها في الدنّ شيبُ القُمُّحان

    Every virgin is an old crone, already bearing

    on her head within the jar the gray bloom of wine.

  54. وكأنّ الكفّ من حُمرَتِها

    غُمِسَتْ أنْملها في الأرجُوَان

    It is as though the palm, from its redness,

    had its fingertips dipped in crimson dye.

  55. صرْفُها يقسو فيبدي غضباً

    فإذا أرضَيْتَهُ بالمزْجِ لان

    Its unmixed wine is harsh and shows anger,

    but when you please it by mixing, it softens.

  56. رَبّةَ القُرْطِ الذي أحسبه

    راشَ للقلب جَنَاحَ الخفقان

    O lady of the earring that I think

    has feathered the fluttering wing of my heart,

  57. إن يكُنْ سحركِ قد خُصّ بهِ

    لحظُ طرفٍ منك أو لفظُ لسان

    if your magic has been bestowed exclusively

    on a glance of your eye or an utterance of your tongue,

  58. فعليٌّ بأسُهُ خُصّ بِهِ

    حدُّ سيفٍ منه أو حدُّ سنان

    then Ali's valor has been bestowed exclusively

    on the edge of his sword or the point of his spear.

  59. منعم تهوى القوافي مَدْحَهُ

    أو مَا ناظِمُ مَعناها مُعان

    A benefactor whose praise the rhymes desire—

    or is the weaver of their meaning not aided?

  60. معرقٌ في المجد من آبائه

    أُسُدِ الرّوع وأملاكِ الزمان

    Deep-rooted in glory through his forefathers,

    lions in terror and kings of their time.

  61. جلّ مِنْ شبلٍ أبوه قَسْوَرٌ

    بَطَلُ الحرْبِ بكفّيْهِ جبان

    How mighty a cub whose father is a lion;

    even war's champion is a coward in his grasp!

  62. إن تلا يحيى عليٌّ في العلى

    فبما دانَ من الإِحسان دان

    If Ali has followed Yahya in eminence,

    he lives by the same law of generosity.

  63. كلّ يومٍ في المعاني قدرُهُ

    بسماءِ الملك يَنْمي للعيان

    Each day, in noble qualities, his stature

    rises visibly in the heaven of kingship.

  64. وهلالٌ أوّلُ البدرِ الّذي

    يَرْتدي بالنور منه الأفقان

    And a crescent is the beginning of the full moon whose

    light clothes both horizons.

  65. كم طريدٍ مُستقِرٍّ عندهُ

    من حَرُورِ الخوْفِ في ظلّ أمان

    How many a fugitive has found refuge with him,

    from fear's scorching heat, in the shade of safety!

  66. وفقيرٍ مُعْسِرٍ قد صانَهُ

    من مهين الفقر بالمال المهان

    And many a destitute poor man he has protected

    from abasing poverty with wealth he holds cheap.

  67. كان في غير حماه غرضاً

    لِسِهامٍ فُوّقَتْ بالحدثان

    Outside his protection, that man had been a target

    for arrows nocked by fortune's calamities,

  68. في جَفافِ العُدْمِ حتى غرَفَتْ

    من يديه في الغنى منه يدان

    in the drought of want, until two hands scooped

    from his hands, becoming rich through him.

  69. يشتري بالحمدِ فَقْراً كيفَ لا

    يُشْتَرى باقٍ معَ الدّهْرِ بفان

    He buys praise at the cost of poverty—why should not

    what lasts with Time be bought with what must perish?

  70. جادَ حتى قيلَ هلْ أموالهُ

    عند أهل القصد في صَوْن اختزان

    He gave until people asked, 'Is his wealth

    held by the thrifty in safe storage?'

  71. وإذا الهيجاءُ شَبّتْ نارُهَا

    بالرّقاقِ البيضِ والسُّمرِ اللدان

    And when battle's fire blazes

    with slender white blades and supple brown spears,

  72. وأثارتْ شُزَّبُ الجُرْدِ بها

    عِثْيَراً يَسودّ منه الخافقان

    and lean, short-haired horses stir up in it

    dust that blackens both horizons,

  73. فكأنّ الليلَ مما أظلمتْ

    جُنّ أو ألقى على الأرض جِران

    it is as though night, from the darkness they raised,

    had gone mad, or laid its neck upon the earth.

  74. صادَ بالبأس عليٌّ صِيدَها

    وَثَنى منها عن النصر عِنان

    With valor Ali hunted down its haughty champions

    and turned their rein away from victory,

  75. بيمينٍ صَيّرَتْ خاتمها

    تاجَ عَضْبٍ يقطفُ الهامَ يمان

    with a right hand that made its signet

    the crown of a keen Yemeni sword that reaps heads.

  76. وكأنّ الليْثَ من صَعْدَتِهِ

    بفؤادِ الذِّمْرِ يعني أفعوان

    It is as though the lion, with his lance,

    aims a serpent at the champion's heart.

  77. يسْرقُ المهجةَ من عامِلِهِ

    في أضاةِ الدرع للنار لسان

    From his spearhead the lifeblood is stolen

    by a tongue of fire in the pool of mail.

  78. لست أدري أدَمٌ في رمحه

    مِنْ جَنَانِ الدهرِ أم وردِ الجنان

    I cannot tell: is that blood upon his spear

    from Time's heart, or roses from the gardens?

  79. يا ابن يحيى أنتَ ذو الطَّوْل الذي

    أوّلٌ نائله والبحر ثان

    O son of Yahya, you possess the bounty whose

    giving comes first, and the sea's second.

  80. فابقَ للمعروفِ في العزِّ وَدُمْ

    من علوّ القدر في أعلى مكان

    Remain for good deeds in honor, and endure,

    through exalted rank, in the highest place.

  81. وعلى وجهك للبشرِ سنا

    وعلى قَصْدِكَ للنّجْمِ ضَمان

    May gladness shine upon your face,

    and may your quest for the star be assured.